Friday Facts About Tap Water

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MARCH 15: Hundreds of recycled plastic water bottles are piled up inside the Recology recycling facility on March 15, 2011 in San Francisco, California. The multi-million dollar bottled water industry continues to prosper despite outrage from environmentalists who point out that at least half of the empty bottles end up in landfills instead of being recycled. Environmental groups are encouraging people to use reusable containers and get their water from the tap which is safe to drink in over 90 percent of the United States. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MARCH 15: Hundreds of recycled plastic water bottles are piled up inside the Recology recycling facility on March 15, 2011 in San Francisco, California. The multi-million dollar bottled water industry continues to prosper despite outrage from environmentalists who point out that at least half of the empty bottles end up in landfills instead of being recycled. Environmental groups are encouraging people to use reusable containers and get their water from the tap which is safe to drink in over 90 percent of the United States. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Our drinking water is a serious issue and there are an increasing number of reports that our once pure water is not as pure as it used to be.

Every year Americans spend billions to filter their household water or pay for bottled water or a water filtration system. What’s wrong with just turning on the tap? According to health officials — a lot.

In many parts of the country water is an acquired taste. I can remember going to my aunt and uncles farm and their well water tasted pretty nasty.

But where I currently live we are on well water and it’s some of the best water I’ve had anywhere I’ve lived. Here are some tap water facts that might wet your whistle.

Tap Water Facts From Around The World

The average American family uses about 250 gallons of water per day versus the average of 5 gallons used by the average African family.

There are over 1 billion people on the planet that do not have access to safe drinking water.

American’s take about 40 trillion gallons of water from the ground and that’s increasing 25 percent every ten years. Scientists claim we are taking more than nature can produce in the coming years.

Next time you empty that plastic water bottle consider that 2.5 million are emptied every hour and they take 500 years to decompose in our landfills.

Because many people flush old medicines and pharmaceuticals your drinking water could contain sex hormones and anti-seizure medicines.

Those of you who think your bottled water is safe should know that bottle water companies don’t test employees for disease, and do not prevent them from working if they have common colds, infections, or open sores on their hands.

Water gets around. The average water molecule will spend nine days in the atmosphere, two weeks in a river, ten years in a large lake, 3-5,000 years in an ocean, 10-100,000+ years underground and 10-100,000 years in an Antarctic ice cap.

In 1974 we passed the Safe Drinking Water Act. However, that act only regulates 91 of our 60,000 possible contaminants that can cause a wide range of diseases.

Some Final Thoughts

Based on some very limited research for this article I would say that more effort is needed to keep our drinking water safe. I would put the burden on that of each community rather than the Federal Government.

I get a water report by mail for where I live as to what’s in our water and the levels of various substances. You might want to keep up to date on water reports from your local area to keep your family safe.